On a drizzly Friday afternoon, I started my La Paulée weekend at a vertical tasting featuring dozens of Burgundy producers in the elaborate ballroom of the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. That’s where I bumped into famed Burgundian chef Michel Troisgros, who offered me the chance of a lifetime.

It turned out Michel would be cooking with Boulud that night for a private wine dinner featuring the storied wines of Domaine Dujac. “Why don’t you cook with us?” he asked me. That night, while we prepared squab stuff with foie gras and bok choy and Thai pheasant sausage with lemongrass, my husband, wine director Robert Bohr, snuck back with glasses of wine for the cooks to try—1985 Domaine Dujac Clos St-Denis and 1989 Domaine Leflaive “Les Pucelles.”

Then something unexpected happened. A tall, lanky gentleman walked into the kitchen with a gold statuette.

“Is it real?” everyone wondered.

“It is,” said the man.

It was Pete Docter, a dinner guest, who had recently won an Oscar for his animated film, Up. He praised Daniel, Michel and all of the winemakers and sommeliers at the dinner that night. “You all deserve the Oscar!” he announced.

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